Union County weighs mental health co-responder for crisis calls

Union County is weighing a mental health co-responder that would bring behavioral-health expertise into crisis calls alongside law enforcement, a shift aimed at reducing unnecessary arrests and getting people to care faster. The question now is how such a role would be staffed, funded and tied into the county’s existing emergency-response network.

Co-responder programs pair law enforcement and clinicians in responses to behavioral-health crises. Teams can put mental health crisis workers in patrol cars with specially trained officers to answer mental health calls and follow up with repeat utilizers. Those are the kinds of calls where a scene can involve mental illness, substance use, trauma or a mix of all three, and where a patrol-only response can leave families cycling between jail, ambulances and emergency departments.

Pennsylvania has also built a policy framework around crisis response. People in crisis are told to call 988 for immediate help, and the Byrne State Crisis Intervention Program funds crisis-response and related public-safety initiatives. Union County would have to fit any new service into limited local resources and a broader public-safety system.

Union County already has pieces of that system in place. The CMSU Behavioral Health Advisory Board oversees mental health and drug and alcohol services for Montour, Columbia, Snyder and Union counties, and it meets on a bi-monthly basis. Residents interested in serving on the board can contact Jen Beaver at (570) 275-5422. Public safety coordination also runs through Union County Public Safety, or EMA, headed by Julianne Erway, and the county sheriff’s office is listed separately under county departments.

Nearby Pennsylvania examples show how the approach works on the ground. WellSpan used crisis counselors to help police on mental health calls in 2023, and Montgomery County’s Mobile Crisis team provides immediate support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, free to anyone currently in Montgomery County. For Union County, the practical questions are whether a co-responder would cover the whole county or only certain calls, and how it would work with municipal police, the sheriff’s office or EMS.